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Lot Essay
These two bronze busts are very grand examples of America's Gilded Age collecting habits and taste in decorating at the beginning of the last century. They were bought by Henry and Arabella Huntington in 1918 from the famed dealer Joseph Duveen, who was responsible for supplying some of the most important pieces to the Huntington's art collection, and to many other of America's most storied public and private collections.
The antique prototype, upon which the imposing bust of Hadrian offered here is based, is the 2nd century AD original formerly in the Albani collection and now in the Capitoline Museum, Rome. Hadrian (AD 117-138) was a man of culture and the arts, responsible for some of Rome's most iconic building projects such as his Villa at Tivoli and the enrichment of the Pantheon -- and it perhaps not a coincidence that Duveen offered this bust to such a modern-day champion of art and industry, Henry Huntington.
Hadrian is paired with a variant of the celebrated Capitoline Venus, which itself is based on the 4th century B.C. prototype by Praxiteles. As the Goddess of Love and Sexuality, Aphrodite was always portrayed as the essence of beauty. Her aesthetic perfection is reflected here in the goddess' idealized face, graceful neck and sensuously tactile hair.
The socles are later in date than the busts, possibly supplied by Duveen himself, and were probably added to help coordinate them as a pair.
The antique prototype, upon which the imposing bust of Hadrian offered here is based, is the 2nd century AD original formerly in the Albani collection and now in the Capitoline Museum, Rome. Hadrian (AD 117-138) was a man of culture and the arts, responsible for some of Rome's most iconic building projects such as his Villa at Tivoli and the enrichment of the Pantheon -- and it perhaps not a coincidence that Duveen offered this bust to such a modern-day champion of art and industry, Henry Huntington.
Hadrian is paired with a variant of the celebrated Capitoline Venus, which itself is based on the 4th century B.C. prototype by Praxiteles. As the Goddess of Love and Sexuality, Aphrodite was always portrayed as the essence of beauty. Her aesthetic perfection is reflected here in the goddess' idealized face, graceful neck and sensuously tactile hair.
The socles are later in date than the busts, possibly supplied by Duveen himself, and were probably added to help coordinate them as a pair.